Chapter Nine: The Abductors

Haru began to murmur and stir from sleep, one shoulder pressed a little too close to her head. She yawned, and tried to stretch. But the only limb that actually had room to move was her right one, which met with a sheet that was draped over her almost like a tent.

"What the-" she said incredulously, sitting up and pulling the sheet away, suddenly realizing how the ground underneath her was moving up and down like a gentle earthquake.

The slim brunette looked around, completely amazed. She appeared to be on a small fishing boat, which was being worked only by three sailors, two of which she recognized.

Muta the giant looked over at her, and grinned roguishly as he messed with the ropes for the sails. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Chicky. Enjoy your little nap?"

"Surprisingly, yes," she admitted, throwing her legs over the side of the strange cradle she had been resting in, pulling herself to her feet with ease. Looking at it, she realized that she had been sleeping inside the trunk she had opened what felt like ages ago. A couple of hours, she guessed, since the sun was setting over nothing but open water.

She looked over at Muta and his small darker companion with a grin as she gripped the railing for dear life, since this was the first time she had ever been out on the open ocean. "You're not really from King Unmar, are you?" she asked as her body gently fell to the side of the boat in time with the gentle waves.

"That's precisely right," the third man said pompously in a nasal voice said as he checked over a large map that he had set on the floor of the small boat. "And don't bother thinking about escaping this boat. This area's infested with man-eating eels. They shriek at night, if you don't believe me."

"Why would I want to escape?" Haru asked curiously, sitting down next to the trunk neatly, making sure that her skirt covered her legs decently. "The prince sent you, didn't he?"

The short man in brown brocade looked up from his map in surprise. "No. Actually he didn't. What made you think he did?"

The slim brunette shrugged, although her heart began to feel cold in her chest. "He promised he'd hire some mercenaries to kidnap me and take me out of the kingdom so that I wouldn't have to marry his father. If he didn't send you, who did?" she asked curiously.

The short man drew himself up importantly, his eyes dark and furious. "No one sends me. Not anymore. My name's Natoru; you've probably heard of me while you were in the castle."

She cocked her head to one side, thinking about it. "Sorry. I'm afraid that I haven't."

Muta and his dark friend began snickering, making Natoru shoot an evil glare at them before directing his attention to the brunette again.

"I'm Natori's younger brother," he explained through gritted teeth. "I was disgraced in the king's eyes a year ago when I accidentally laughed at one of his more absurd outfits."

Haru quirked an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "I've laughed at his outfits too. Did you do anything else?"

"Not a thing!" he yelled, storming around the small boat, waving his arms in the air as the other two groaned in dismay, sending the girl reproachful looks. "But for merely laughing at him, I was flogged and thrown out of the castle while my brother watched, but didn't help! The one time I needed him to be a brother instead of a fellow advisor, he wouldn't be one! The only way to hurt him is to hurt the king, so I hired these two to kidnap you so that we can take you across the channel and kill you on the other side to humiliate both my brother and the king."

Haru stared at him, her face taking on a familiar pose of indifference. "You don't beat around the bush, do you?" she asked drily.

Natoru stared at her with shock. "Aren't you going to do something?" he asked her incredulously. "I don't know; throw a fit or burst into tears?"

"Both are unnecessary, and they wouldn't do me any good, considering the circumstances," she said calmly, actually smiling a little. She patted the trunk next to her softly. "I don't care what the other gifts were going to be, I like this one the best. Between a choice of death or marrying the king, I'll gladly take death. Thank you for doing this, Natoru."

She didn't mean a word of it, except preferring death to marrying the king. She'd simply allow these three to take her far from the king, and when they landed, she would knock out the three of them and strike out on her own, like she had planned with Lune. Her only regret now was the fact that she never got to say goodbye to the prince and princess.

Natoru was gaping at her incredulously. "You're welcome?" he said in a hesitant manner.

Haru smiled softly, and turned to look at the sunset, crossing her arms on the side so she could rest her head on them. "This place has a nice view," she noted, dedicating her attentions to the site until the sun retired for the day.

"That one guy we were drinking with at the tavern knew what he was talking about," Muta muttered under his breath as he adjusted the sails again. "This girl's a strange one."

"One tries," Haru countered absently, hypnotized by the darkening waves of the sea. "So, how long will it be until we reach our destination?"

"We should strike land in the morning," the darker man told her, now dressed in a similar outfit as Muta, except he now had a rather nice-looking sword strapped to his side.

She looked at him, and grinned evilly. "You stole that uniform from earlier, didn't you?"

"I needed to look at least somewhat official," he protested on his behalf before gesturing to Muta. "This one could have passed off as just muscle, but at least one of us needed to look like we had business going near you."

"Good point," she agreed, turning around so that she could sit down comfortably again. "I didn't catch your name earlier?"

"I'm Toto Montoya," he said with a fluid bow, one that almost seemed too polished to be merely a hired hand.

"You killed his father, prepare to die," Muta added in a high-pitched mocking tone, making the darker man turn to him angrily as Haru giggled hopelessly.

"That isn't appropriate right now!"

"Why not? You practice it on everyone else," the giant taunted, grinning evilly as he put up his fists for a fight. "Why don't you just go find the guy that killed your old man and get it over with?!"

"Because I don't know where he is, you fatso!"

"FATSO?!" Muta howled, throwing himself at the swordsman to start pounding on him as Toto hit him back, throwing the sword to a corner where it wouldn't get damaged as the two began what was obviously a continuing brawl.

Natoru sighed tiredly, and moved his map to the far end of the ship where it and himself wouldn't get damaged. "The things I put up with for revenge," he muttered angrily.

A little curious, Haru walked around the two brawlers to pick up the fallen sword. Wordlessly, she drew it from the slim scabbard, and tested its weight.

It could only be called a work of art, with delicate gold lace wrapping around the hilt that was just a fraction too long. Haru had never seen a fencing sword before, but she could tell that the one who made this sword was very passionate about his job.

"This is an extraordinary blade," she complimented Toto, gently sliding the weapon back into its scabbard.

"Thanks," Toto wheezed as he stumbled to sit down next to her, the fight over with for now as Muta sat on the other side of her, also winded. "It was the last one my father created before he was murdered by the man who commissioned him to make it, but at a fraction of its value."

Haru's expression became flinty. "I hope you find the culprit someday," she said heatedly as she handed him his weapon.

"Oh, I will," Toto replied fervently, his smile roguish as he strapped the blade back onto his waist. But then the smile faded a little. "I hope you don't mind my asking, Haru-san, but how come you're being so calm about the fact that Natoru plans to kill you? Don't you have anything to live for?"

"Just one," Haru confessed, her mind's eyes seeing Humbert again, even after all these years. "But there's no point to resisting out here on the open water. I don't know the first thing about sailing, and there's no way I could possibly swim the rest of the way, even if I knew which direction to go in the dark. Are there really man-eating eels down in the water?" she asked nervously.

"They'll start shrieking in a few minutes, Chicky. It'll make sleep difficult, but we'll manage. So what's this reason of yours?" Muta asked curiously.

"My fiancé," the slim brunette said casually. "The real one, I mean; not the old lecher that was blackmailing me. Now that I won't be able to return to the village or even the kingdom, I'd like to try looking for him. He has to be somewhere," she sighed, huddling into a ball against the approaching chill of night. "It's been quite some time since I've seen him, and I want to make sure that he's all right."

"So you are going to resist eventually," Toto concluded slyly, making her nod slightly, in case their boss was paying attention.

"Let's just say that I hope your loyalty to Natoru only goes as far as your purse strings. You two seem like nice guys, and I'd hate to hurt you more than I have to." She couldn't be more honest than that, she guessed.

"You seem pretty confident that you can get away," Muta challenged, his eyes a little wary as he walked over to the trunk and pulled out some of the blankets she had been sleeping on. "We've been hearing all sorts of stories about you, but I'm pretty sure that they're exaggerations."

"Stories spread by mouth usually are," Haru replied casually as she accepted one of the blankets from the giant, and wrapped herself up in it. "I'm pretty sure that I can at least give you a run for your money, but that will have to wait until we reach land."

"What was your fiancé's name?" Toto asked out of the blue, perhaps to distract Natoru from realizing the previous subject as he walked back to them, the map clenched in one fist as he glared at his two hirelings, his mouth opening to rebuke them for taking a break.

Haru leaned back slightly, her eyes fading with loved memories. "Humbert Gikkingen."

Natoru blinked, and started laughing. "What kind of a stupid name is 'Humbert'?" he giggled.

Haru moved so fast, that Toto didn't realize that his sword was missing until after the blade was pressed against his boss's throat, and his body thrown against the side of the small boat.

Natoru gaped at the girl again, suddenly more afraid than he had ever been before as he watched flames dance in her eyes.

"For the record, it's considered an honor to be named 'Humbert' in Figlash, because he is one of the country's legendary heroes," Haru informed him in a dead calm voice. "Also, Humbert is the modern equivalent of two old words put together. 'Hun' means warrior, and 'Berht' means bright or famous. 'Humbert' means 'bright warrior', or 'famous warrior', and you wouldn't believe just how well my beloved lives up to that name. Just so you know, Natoru, you can make fun of me any way you please, but I will not tolerate slander against the man I love. I strongly suggest that you apologize before I'm forced to kill you."

He began shaking underneath her hold. "Aren't you two going to help me?!" he demanded of his two hirelings, frozen still in shock.

Muta broke free first. "I don't see why we should," he said slowly. "It was kind of rude to make fun of the guy, Natoru."

"No kidding," Toto agreed, his fearful eyes locked on the brunette. "I think you should just apologize, Boss. It'll be kind of tough to scrub your blood off of the boat if she splashes it everywhere."

"I'll just lean him over the edge like this so I won't make a mess," Haru informed him courteously, forcing the miniscule man to bend backward as the eels began to scream in anticipation, the long blade still against his throat.

"I'm sorry!" he cried out in desperation. "I'll never make fun of Humbert again as long as I live!"

"Good boy," she encouraged him, stepping back and tossing the sword back to Toto, who caught it expertly.

"I guess that proves the rumors about this girl are true, after all," Muta said nervously as Haru reached down for her blanket, but then became frozen in that awkward position, her large dark eyes raised to the even darker sea, still echoing with the screams of eels.

She suddenly leaned against the edge of the boat, in order to get a better look. "Just out of curiosity, did any of you know that we're being followed?" she asked, pointing to the horizon behind them.

The trio scrambled to the back end of the boat, Natoru fumbling with a spyglass before taking a look through it.

Sure enough, there was a small boat maybe two miles behind them, white sails billowing slightly in the wind.

"Maybe it's a local fisherman," Natoru said nervously.

"Out for a pleasure cruise at night?" Toto asked skeptically.

"Through eel-infested waters?" Muta added sarcastically.

"Is there a way we can speed things up?" Haru asked, biting her lip nervously. "What if it's the king's men?"

"You could probably take them down if they are, Chicky," Muta assured her, even as he grabbed the ropes again to try adjusting the sails to a faster wind.

"We'll try to out-sail them," Toto said firmly, as he took his place by the rudder again.

But Haru couldn't stop looking at the boat in the distance, her heart pounding in her chest with fear.

'I won't go back. I don't care about the cost, but I will never return to the king. I hope whoever's on that boat is prepared for the fight of his life.'

ooOoo

Yes, I really did look up the meaning for Humbert. Fitting, isn't it?